Improvement in processes for preparing vegetable fiber for upholstering



J'. S. CUTTER.

PROCESS FOR* PREPARING VEGETABLE FIBER FOR UPHuGLSTER- ING.

No. 171,357. i Patented nu. 21,1875.

.PETERS, FMOT0-LITHDGRAPHERl WASHINGTON. A1C.

'UNITED STATES PA'I'EN T OEEIcE,

JAMEs s. GUTTER, OE BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AssieNOE To JOSEPH M.

DAVIS, 0F PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN PROCESSES FOR PREPARING VEGETABLE FIBER FR UPHLSTERING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,357, dated December 21, 1875; application led September 2, 1875. I

To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, JAMES S. GUTTER, of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an improved process of preparing palmetto or other vegetable ber for the purpose of making or filling mattresses, and for other upholstering and packing purposes, oi' which the following is a specification My improvement in the process of preparing palmetto or other vegetable ber for the purpose of making or iilling mattresses, and for other upholsterin-g and packing purposes, is as follows I prefer to dampen the palmetto or other vegetable ber, to soften the natural gluten which lis contained therein, and also to make it pliable, though this is not indispensable. VI then pass it through a stripping or picking machine, which separates or reduces the Width of the ber to a proper ineness. I then pass it through heated or cold iiuted rollers which serves to set the gluten in a rigid form, by

Y which the ber is crimped and curled, and the crimp and curl is caused to be retained, and the fiber rendered elastic and flexible, and of great value for upholstering and other purposes.

In the drawing, Figure l represents an elevation of the apparatus employed for stripping the palmetto or other leaf, and Fig. 2-is a sectional vifew of the means for forming the crimp or curl in the liber.

I am aware that fiber has been curled heretofore for the purpose of stuffing mattresses;

but this has been by the old process known and used for curling hair for the same purpose, namely, by stripping or picking, twisting, steaming, baking, nntwisting, andi picking or opening the rope. By this latter process the machines used generally break the ber and reduce the curlto such an extent that it is rendered practically unfit for the purpose for which it is intended. Nor by this old process is it possible to obtain the crimp or curl, the elasticity o-r flexibility of Which is produced by the means which I employ. i

In my invention the twisting, steaming, baking, untwisting, and picking or opening the rope, heretofore necessarily involving the use of' extra machinery and manual labor, are avoided, and by the simple use of heated or cold fluted rollers, as above described, the crimp or curl absolutely required for elasticity and iiexibility is obtained.

I claim- As my improvement in the preparation of palmetto or other vegetable fiber, for the purposes set forth, the process herein described, consisting of the dampening of the ber, the passage of it in this condition through. a stripping or picking machine, and, finally, its passage through heated or cold tlutedrollers, substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified. v

JAMES S. GUTTER. Witnesses: 4 e

WILLIAM H. DE LANOEY JN0. R. ROBERTSON. 

